Cuento De Amor

The Knight’s Tale
by Geoffrey Chaucer

Prince Arcite and Prince Palamon, both from Thebes, were the closest of friends. They were captured in war and locked up together in a prison tower inAthens. One day Palamon looked into a courtyard and saw Emily, a beautiful princess. He immediately fell in love with her. His friend Arcite, hearing Palamon speaking about her aloud, came to the window.He too immediately fell I love with the same woman. The men quarreled. They became jealous of one another, and their friendship was destroyed. Sometime later Arcite was freed from prison on thecondition that if he were ever found in or near Athens, he would be killed.

When Arcite heard about his freedom, he felt sick. He cried and cursed the day of his birth. “My freedom is worse than myprison. Here in this tower, I would have been happy forever. Palamon, you are lucky. You, at least, can look out of the window and see Emily every day. And fortune can change. Though you are in prison,you are near her. You may be released and have the woman you desire. But I must leave and live at home in Thebes, an exile from where I wish to be. We never know what we want and pray for. Wealways look for happiness in the wrong place. I was convinced that if I could only get out of prison my happiness would be a certainty. Now I am free, but since I cannot see Emily, I am like a corpse. Insearching for happiness, we are like a drunk who knows well enough that he has a home, but doesn’t know where it is.

Palamon, when he learned the news, screamed in anger. ‘’Arcite, you’ve won. Youcan walk freely in Thebes, you home. You can raise an army and go to war with Athens. Perhaps through some bold attack or a treaty, you will gain Emily for your wife. Your position is so muchbetter than mine. You are a prince again and free. I must remain here dying in a cage. Fate which rules the world, is cruel. It treats men no differently from animals. But an animal may, at least, do...